The Online Industry

Online Consumers and High Street Decline.

A study by Mintel found that over a third (34%) of consumers now shop for their lingerie, loungewear and nightwear online. This could be a huge market for Victoria's Secret as moving to just an online store may be a good move as this could increase sales and reduce spends in costs of having stores open across the globe. Their pink range is directed at Gen Z, a generation of tablets, online and social media. This being at the forefront of the upcoming generational, it may be a good idea to direct their costs and time and money into a more online brand. It seems that people now have turned to wanting to shop in the comfort of their own home. This may be due to ease, lack of time for shopping centres and better deals online.
References: http://academic.mintel.com/display/903790/?highlight#hit1

Victoria's secret are about to close 20 of their stores in the US in 2018. As Victoria's Secret prides itself on it's in store experience and custom bra fittings, they are forgetting about the consumer needs. As marketing to a younger target audience, brick and mortar shops are in high decline. High street sales dropped by 1.7% in June 2018 compared to June 2017. It looks like this decrease will continue as we move into the digital age. In March 2018, 17.4% of all retail sales was online. This was even bigger that in March 2017 which came to 15.9%. The online retail industry is huge and clearly growing, with Gen Z being the next upcoming generation for change we can see they have more values, and seem to be more conscious about brand choice and of course, are at the forefront of the digital age. With Victoria's Secret having 1,170 stores worldwide and 7,616,000 of selling square feet, it's clear that a huge amounts of their spending costs go towards the in-store experience. However, this isn't coherent with consumer needs and the growing online market.
References:
https://www.businessinsider.com/victorias-secret-closing-20-stores-2018-8?r=US&IR=T
https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/retailindustry/bulletins/retailsales/march2018
https://www.lb.com/our-brands/victorias-secret
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jul/06/uk-high-street-sales-fall-for-fifth-month-running
https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2018/09/08/victorias-secret-may-be-womens-most-beloved-brand-but-thats-not-the-love-it-needs/#32e66c3832bb

My Proposal (Suggestions)
Retail and the Fashion industry's future is online. Millennials and Gen Z are taking over as technology is growing we are spend more and more time scrolling through instagram to see the latest post form our favourite Social Influencer. Victoria's Secret need to spend the time with their online business as well as the industry, curating their Instagram to fit the new wave consumer of today. We trust social influencers as consumers so Victoria's Secret really need them on their side. Not just the Kylie and Kendall Jenners but a more diverse range of influencers. Tess Holliday, a plus size model is booming in the industry, within 1.7M followers, she's a role model to the plus size community. Victoria's Secret need to spend more on their website, making it more interactive and re-vamping the look. More neutral, relatable and realistic models need to be at the front of their online campaigns. This needs to be a celebration of women. We have seen the same angel wings and models every year and the same branding throughout the store. Whether this be iconic or not, they are losing money. They may worry about losing the hardcore VS supporters but the bottom line is that they are failing to gain any more following.


References:
https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/43pa4q/victorias-secret-women-lingerie
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jul/06/uk-high-street-sales-fall-for-fifth-month-running
http://academic.mintel.com/display/926072/?highlight
https://www.businessinsider.com/victorias-secret-closing-20-stores-2018-8?r=US&IR=T
https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/retailindustry/bulletins/retailsales/march2018
https://www.lb.com/our-brands/victorias-secret
http://academic.mintel.com/display/903788/?highlight#hit1